This song/album got me started on my journey into

[BigOleDummy]

the Blues. Great album. Saw these guys back sometime in the early/mid 80's at the Detroit Blues Festival. A bunch of skinny blindingly neon white junkies and they had the whole place on their feet. lol, long story but damn near lost my job over going to that .....

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Apologies to anyone I may have offended with any of my earlier posts.

[Redleg]

1. For me it probably started with Jimi Hendrix

then to Stevie Ray Vaughn and Robert Cray, then to Buddy Guy, then to the icons like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, then to the folks who came before them, like Son House and Robert Johnson.

As for the songs, with Hendrix it was Red House. Stevie Ray was probably Cold Shot or Texas Flood. Robert Cray was the album with Strong Persuader. With Buddy Guy it was his great albums from the 90s and then back to the Chess days and work with Junior Wells. I love the earliest Muddy Waters Chess recordings and also those of Howlin' Wolf. That music is just so elemental to the Chicago Blues sound but also harkens back to the delta blues.

[BigOleDummy]

2. Love me some

Robert Cray. Excellent singer/writer/guitarist. Stevie Ray ..... well, him too and I have a personal story involving him that is quite long so.... another time.

Guess I went from Savoy Brown to Johnny Winter to John Mayall. Then to some/most of the others you mention. Not the biggest Jimi fan , there.... I said it. I get into SO MUCH trouble with that/this opinion. He had some good songs sure, and was pretty good guitarist too but I think , PERSONALLY, that more than anything he brought showmanship to rock/blues and thats why hes so revered.

Hard to beat a good Blues song though. Thanks for replying.

[Redleg]

5. Hendrix was deeply versed in the blues

and some of the previously unreleased blues versions of his songs are quite good and some use acoustic guitar. There is a fantastic longer version of Red House on one of those newer albums.

I forgot to mention my love for John Mayall. He too was a big part in my blues awakening. I am fortunate that one of my work colleagues is a fine blues musician and has a son who was nominated for a major blues award this year.

[BigOleDummy]

7. I agree ...

...that Jimi had some Blues chops. I'll have to look for that acoustic version of Red House. In fact, some of those newer albums you mentioned. I confess the last I heard/bought was "Cry of Love". Magnificent album!

John Mayall ...... man, what can you say about this guy that hasn't been said before? hehe Can he pick guitarists or what? lol Guess if pressed really really hard I'd pick "Chicago Line" as my personal favorite of his, but theres so many to choose from. Can still remember the first time I heard "Room to move". Yes, those liner notes were kind of pretentious but still..... great album.

[BluesRunTheGame]

3. For me, it was a live show.

I was looking for something interesting for a date one Friday night in the early 80s. Wasn’t much going on. I decided to take a chance on a band that I knew nothing about. I’d never heard of them.

Turns out this guy was Sleepy John Estes’ sideman and had also recorded with the original Sonny Boy Williams and Noah Lewis.

One of the few mandolinists of the early blues.

[BigOleDummy]

4. Very nice

Thank you for sharing this. Excellent and new to me. Much appreciated !

[Redleg]

6. I remember seeing Charley Musselwhite in the mid 80s

at one of our local taverns- the Grey Moose Pub in Ogden, Utah. The 80s were not a great time for blues musicians but it gave us a chance to see Charley in a venue that he might not normally play.

When I lived in Lincoln, Nebraska, we were lucky to have a great blues bar, the Zoo Bar. The resident blues musician was Magic Slim, who had moved to Lincoln from Chicago. I remember one day walking past the Zoo Bar with my friend to check out who was playing there that evening. Magic Slim was outside the bar having a smoke and he said to us that he was playing along with his son and son's band. Pretty cool.